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3 Were the Baltic lands a small, underdeveloped province in a far corner of Europe, to which Germans, Swedes, Poles, and Russians brought religion, culture, and well-being and where no prerequisites for independence existed? Thus far the world extends, and this is the truth. Tacitus of the Baltic Lands He works like a Negro on a plantation or a Latvian for a German. Dostoyevsky The proto-Balts or early Baltic peoples began to arrive on the shores of the Baltic Sea nearly 4,000 years ago. At their greatest extent, they occupied an area some six times as large as that of the present Baltic peoples. Two thousand years ago, the Roman Tacitus wrote about the Aesti tribe on the shores of the #BMUJDBDDPSEJOHUPIJN JUTNFNCFSTHBUIFSFEBNCFSBOEXFSFOPUBTMB[ZBT many other peoples.1 In the area that presently is Latvia, grain was already cultivated around 3800 B.C.2 Archeologists say that agriculture did not reach southern Finland, only some 300 kilometers away, until the year 2500 B.C. About 900 AD Balts began establishing tribal realms. “Latvians” (there was no such nation yet) were a loose grouping of tribes or cultures governed by kings: Couronians (Kurshi), Latgallians, Selonians and Semigallians. The area which is known as -BUWJBUPEBZXBTBMTPPDDVQJFECZB'JOOP6HSJDUSJCF UIF-JWT XIPHSBEVBMMZ merged with the Balts. The peoples were further commingled in the wars which Estonian and Latvian tribes waged with one another for centuries.3 66 Backward and Undeveloped? To judge by findings at grave sites, the ancient inhabitants in the area of Latvia were a prosperous people, tall in build. They practiced agriculture and kept slaves. Their relatively high degree of development shows in the number of Finnish words with a Baltic origin, among them words relating to sea travel, agriculture, and tools. 5IF-JUIVBOJBOTBOEUIF-BUWJBOTXFSFiUIFMBTUPG&VSPQFTQBHBOTw5IFZ did, however, have their own animistic, pantheistic religion. Innocent III, the most aggressive and violent of the medieval popes, declared a crusade “against the barbarous peoples” of the Baltic in 1199. The subjugation of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea was of interest for economic and trade reasons, and the Order of the Sword (Fratres Militae Christi de Livonia), later the Teutonic Knights, took on the task assigned by the Pope. The new arrivals founded the city of Rīga in 1201. The Livonians were the first “natives” that they encoun- tered, and they named the area Livonia (Livland). 5IF#BMUTXFSFCBQUJ[FEBT$ISJTUJBOTEVSJOHUIFŝşth century; the last to convert were the Couronians and the people of the island Oesel. The conver- sion was accomplished by force, even by violence, if old chronicles can be trusted. Many Balts at first tried to wash off the baptism in sacred rivers. “They EFTFSWFUPCFLJMMFE SBUIFSUIBOUPCFCBQUJ[FE wXSPUFUIF(FSNBODISPOJDMFS Heinrich (Henricus de Lettis) in frustration. The crusaders did not need many soldiers; they were superior in arms and also resorted to a policy of divide and conquer and to the use of local allies – they turned the Balts against one another. The Balts retain a collective memory of this. The conquerors used the fears and hatreds prevailing among the tribes to their advantage. The Livs and the Latvians became the trusted weapons- bearers for Germans in battles against Estonians. The Lithuanians successfully resisted the German conquerors, but their king chose the Christian religion voluntarily.4 Churches were built in places sacred to the Balts. As had happened in other places, pre-Christian and Christian practices blended into a unique new tradi- tion. Many “pagan” beliefs lived on, even for centuries. Many of them live on in Baltic folk customs, festivals, and songs. The Balts had received influences from both East and West, but as a result of the conquest, the greater part of the Baltic area became part of the Western cultural sphere, the Roman Catholic community. It came to be known as the Confederation of Livonia, a state attached to the Holy Roman Empire. In the ensuing struggle, the Slavic principalities of Novgorod, Polotsk, and Pskov were defeated. The Baltic peoples have generally been labeled Central Euro- peans, and the Estonians and sometimes even the Latvians have also been .
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